whom were residents of his district. Niles' Register gave almost three pages to this event. In his speech Mr. Mallary said that few Representatives were less embarrassed in their public service than those from Vermont. In obedience to the wishes of the people of the State they had supported the navy, navigation, fortifications and internal improvements. He reviewed the tariff measures of 1816, 1824, 1827 and the general revision of 1828, calling attention to the dire predictions made by opponents of the latest revision. He referred to the hostility of the South and to South Carolina's threat to secede. He advocated internal improvements and condemned the Jackson administration for its system of political rewards and punishments, with its idea of conquest, the minority being treated like prisoners of war, in his opinion.

Late in 1829 and early in 1830 projects for building railroads in Vermont began to be considered, including one from Boston to Brattleboro, and another from Boston to Ogdensburg, N. Y., by way of Lowell, Mass., Concord, N. H., and Burlington. The people of Windsor appointed a committee to ascertain the feasibility of a railroad from that village to Whitehall, N. Y., by way of Rutland. A meeting was held at Montpelier, on January 15, 1830, to consider a proposed railroad from Boston to Lake Champlain. A Vermont Railroad Association was formed at Montpelier on February 17, 1830, and Timothy Hubbard was elected president. October 6, of the same year, a railroad convention was held at the State House to consider the proposed BostonOgdensburg route. Five delegates were present from

On

Boston, ten from New Hampshire, seven from Northern New York and twenty-six from Vermont, the towns in the State represented being Barre, Berlin, Bradford, Burlington, Chelsea, Hartford, Middlesex, Montpelier, Northfield, Randolph, Richmond, Royalton, Topsham, Walden and Waterbury. The meeting was called to order by D. Azro A. Buck of Chelsea, and Luther Bradish of Moira, N. Y., was elected president. Committees were appointed to ask the Government to make a survey, to complete statistics concerning travel over the route, and to publish an address to the people.

During the summer of 1830 the State was visited by one of the most severe freshets ever known in New England. After a week of extreme heat, a heavy rain began on the evening of Saturday, July 24. On Monday, July 26, the streams began to rise rapidly and continued to rise until Tuesday morning, when they were three or four inches higher than "the great freshet of 1828," to quote the words of the Montpelier Watchman. Most of the dams on the Mad River, and many houses and barns along its banks were destroyed and not a bridge was left on the stream. At Middlesex, on the Winooski River, a woolen factory, a school house and several mills were swept away. Of the sixteen buildings at Moretown only six were left standing. Most of the bridges in the vicinity of Waterbury were swept away. All the bridges on the Dog River, at Berlin, went out. From Northfield came a similar report. A resident of Calais was drowned at Montpelier. A young man lost his life while trying to cross the Dog River at Berlin on a raft. A Moretown woman was swept

from her husband's arms and drowned. The damage to the Montpelier-Burlington turnpike was estimated at ten thousand dollars. From Bolton to Lake Champlain the Winooski valley was a scene of desolation. Intervale farms, with abundant crops, some of them ready for harvest, "suddenly became one vast and extended waste of waters, with fences, barns, mills, bridges and crops mingling in one common mass of ruins," according to the report of the Montpelier Watchman.

At West

Randolph two houses, a grain mill, and two factories, containing cloth, wool and machinery, valued at seventy thousand dollars, were swept away. A factory and mills were destroyed at Bethel, and a young man was drowned at Royalton.

The Burlington Free Press reported damage at that village amounting to ten thousand dollars. At Winooski Falls, bridges, an oil mill, and a woolen factory were destroyed, while at Essex a carding mill and clothing works were carried away. The Lamoille and Missisquoi Rivers were very high, and at Milton a trip hammer shop and a fulling mill were wrecked. The Middlebury American reported that most of the bridges between Vergennes and Middlebury were washed away and in places the tops of fields of grain were just visible above the surface of the expanse of water. At Lincoln, a woman and three children were awakened to find their bed floating near the ceiling of the room. Above was a loft with a floor of loose boards. The woman succeeded in removing some of these boards, and with her children found safety in this loft, where they remained until they were rescued on the following day. At New Haven

West Mills the stream was dammed and carried away about twenty buildings, leaving nothing but bare rocks. At New Haven East Mills a woolen factory and mills were destroyed. In one house that was surrounded by water the father of the family was able to erect a rude platform in a nearby tree and removed his eight children to this refuge, binding them to the tree with ropes. All the crops along the Middlebury River were destroyed and lives were lost. The damage to private property in Addison county was estimated at a sum between fifty and sixty thousand dollars. Some mills and factories were carried away in Caledonia county. A letter from Plattsburg, N. Y., said: "There never was so great a freshet known on this (Saranac) river since the memory of man. There is not a bridge left standing. The lake (Champlain) is full of logs, bridges, mills and pieces of mills." It was reported that Lake Champlain rose a foot in ten hours. Making allowance for possible exaggerations, there is no doubt that the freshet was exceedingly severe and the losses were very great.

The census of 1830 showed a population of 280,652 in Vermont, a gain of 44,671 during the decade, or 18.9 per cent. This was a substantial increase over the preceding period, from 1810 to 1820, when the gain was only 8.3 per cent. The population by counties was as follows:

The most populous town in the State was Middlebury, with 3,468 inhabitants. Other towns with a population exceeding 2,000 were: Bennington, 3,419; Burlington, 3,226; Windsor, 3,134; Woodstock, 3,044; Montpelier, 2,985; Rutland, 2,753; Springfield, 2,749; Randolph, 2,743; Danville, 2,631; Hartland, 2,503; St. Albans, 2,395; Chester, 2,320; Norwich. 2,316; Rockingham, 2,272; Fairfield, 2,270; Weathersfield, 2,213; Swanton, 2,158; Shaftsbury, 2,143; Brattleboro, 2,141; Shoreham, 2,137; Thetford, 2,113; Milton, 2,100; Hartford, 2,044; Highgate, 2,038; Barre, 2,012; Pittsford, 2,005. There were in the State 3,420 aliens, and 885 free colored persons; also 151 who were deaf and dumb, and 49 who were blind. There are few industrial statistics available for this census period, but the total value of manufactures was $1,507,779.

As the result of the prevalence of an insect pest, sometimes called a midge or weevil, between the years 1824 and 1837, wheat growing was largely abandoned in Vermont, and sheep raising flourished. The tariff law encouraged Vermont farmers to produce wool, and the industry grew rapidly.